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How is the date of Easter calculated? We read in the Gospels that the Friday on which Christ was crucified was the day before the Jews celebrated Passover – whose date followed a very complicated pattern – you can have fun trying to work it out from:...

We are now well and truly into Lent. Ash Wednesday, the first day in Lent, is behind us. Why Ash Wednesday? Ashes, often linked to the wearing of sackcloth in the Old Testament of the Bible, are traditionally a sign of repentance, a sign that we intend to change our...

What is Lent? The word comes from an old English word Lengten meaning 'lengthen'. Lent is observed in spring, when the days begin to get longer (cf. modern German Lenz = springtime).   We celebrated the birth of Jesus at the darkest period of the year, only a day...

Jesus is shown to the world! The first visitors we hear of are the shepherds. Here is Luke’s familiar telling of the powerful message of joy and praise: In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of...

Nearly there! All is ready. Mary and Joseph have arrived in Bethlehem. Our presents have been wrapped; cards have been sent and received. Just a final push… The actual birth was a very ordinary affair. Most families at the time lived very simply, often sharing their...

We think of Christmas as a time of peace and good will, and indeed that is what is promised. But it is not always an easy or comfortable message. God coming to earth shatters all expectations, challenges us, disturbs the accepted order, just as it did for those...

Not long to go now, and we get a real sense of excitement as we approach Christmas: Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child...

We now turn to the narrative of the New Testament. Strange things have already taken place and more are foretold. In a vision, Mary’s barren cousin Elizabeth has been told she would conceive a son who was to be named John. ‘He will turn many of the people of Israel to...

Our final vision from Isaiah is that of a great light being brought into the world by the birth of a child. This prophecy, too, was taken later as a prophecy of the birth of Jesus, God incarnate – that is: God in human form. We celebrate Christmas with the lighting of...

Our second passage from the book of Isaiah again looks forward to a time of peace and justice. The opening phrase may appear rather strange: ‘A shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots’. Jesse was the father of King David,...